Overhead door arrangement



Sept. 6, HElNEN OVERHEAD DOOR ARRANGEMENT Filed Oct. 28, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Emi/ 1%z'12en Sept. 6, 1932. E. J. HEINEN OVERHEA D DOOR ARRANGEMENT Filed Oct. 28, 1929 2 Sheets-She'et 2 VE UH 722 1'! J. Hct ncn Patented Sept. 6, 1932 UNITED vs'ra'ras PATENT OFFICE EH11: J. HEINEN', OF DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ALLITH-PBOUTY COMPANY, 0]

DANVILLE, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE OVERHELD DOOR ARRANGEMENT Application filed October 28, 1929. Serial No. 402,874.

This invention relates to an overhead roller door construction and particularly to a construction of such nature as to re uire relatively small head room above the cor openverhead doors for garages and like structures are in use at the present time but these require a considerable amount of head room above the door opening in order that the doors may be raised sufiicientl to allow clearance of vehicles and 4 the hke thereunder. The present type of overhead door is so installed that the lower panel or section of the door, when the door is in fully opened position lies at an angle with res ect to the balance of the door and projects ownwa'rdl into the door opening, thereby cutting o the efiective height of such opening; The present type of doors, t er'efore, must be installed in garages or like buildings where there is suflicient room to enable the use of a high doorway so that when the door is in fully opened position the lower panel projecting into the doorway will not limit the height of vehicles and the like passing underneath same. p

' The present invention overcomes the heretofore recited ob'ections in that it provides a construction inches in height is suflicient to install the construction of this invention and allow openin of the door to such an extent as to not limit the height of the door opening.

An object of this invention is to provide an overhead roller door construction uiring a minimum amount of head room a ve the door opening,' whereby the door may be A further object of the invention is to pro vide a roller overhead door construction or overhead roller doors wherein a head room of not 1n excess of 9.

wherein trackways are provided for guiding the side margins of the door and with which trackways rollers co-operate, certain of the rollers engaging one part ofthe trackway and other rollers engaging another part for guiding different sections of the doors in slightly different manners.

Generally speaking, the invention contemplates an overhead door construction including an articulated door made up of a plurality of horizontally hinged sections or anels with rollers arranged at certain of the inged portions of the door and other rollers arranged otherwise or all co-operating with tracks so that certain sections or parts of the door may be given a movement different from that imparted toother sections formoving the door out of the doorway when the same is raised to overhead or fully opened position.

The invention further contemplates the provision of safety means for preventing accidental dropping of the door should. any

of the operating mechanism break.

The invention contemplates also the provision of rollers arranged at difl'erent distances from the margin of the door for the purpose of movin certain portions of the door difi'erently wit respect to other portions.

Further features contemplated by the invention include combination hinge and roller supports for hinging together adjacent sections of the door and supporting certain of the rollers at the hinged portions of the door.

The above, other and further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and ap nded claims.

The accompanying v wings illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and the views thereof are as follows: V

Figure 1' is a fragmental front elevational viewvof an articulated door and door construction embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a enlarged side elevational view 1 showing an endview of the door inclosed position and details of construction ofcertain features of the invention.

Figure 3 is a'fragmental side elevational view similar to Figure 2 but with the door shown in section and the track and certain iou as the door is moved from closed to open poof the rollers arranged in the track as the same appear when the door is closed. The figure further illustrates one form of a safety device for preventing accidental dropping of the door in theevent any of'the operating apparatus breaks.

Figure 4 is a section taken substantially on line IV-IV of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an enlarged section taken on line VV of Figure 2.

The drawings. will now be explained. v An articulated door A consisting of a plu rality of horizontally hinged sections or panels is arranged to cover or expose an opening or doorway 1 in a wall 2 of any suitable building such as a garage, warehouse or like structure. The door A is shown as overlapping the door opening 1, but of course, it

might be arranged so as to bear against stops or molding strips if desired. 1 Thedoor A'may comprise any number of sections or panels, depending on the size of to receive the pintle 5. The

the door opening and the invention is susceptible, of course, to application of hinged doors of any number of panels or sections.

The panels or sections comprising the door .A may be hinged together in such manner that the same may articulatefrom vertical position to substantially horizontal position sition orvas thedoor is moved from opened position to closed position.

The door A is shown as having the sections or panels thereof hinged by'marginal hinges B and intermediate hinges C. The only difference being that the pintles of the marginal hinges B areextended to serve as supports for rollers.

A hinge B comprises a 'plate 3 having a pair of spaced ears 4, which ears are apertured for receiving the pintle 5. A companion plate 6vis provided with a central apertured ear 7 which enters between the spaced ears 4 of the plate 3. The ear 7 is apertured pintles 5are extended outwardly of the side brackets of the door and support at the outer ends rollers 8 having hubs 9 on the pintles.

The intermediate hinges C are-identical with the hinges B except that the pintles thereof do not extend beyond the end portions of the hinges.

The rollers 8 have suitable anti-friction 5 bearings therein to'allow free rotation of the hinges B as there are hinge joints in the door,

the construction of all of the marginal hinges B being the same. i I

The upper panel or section of the door A is provided at each side thereof with brackets 10 having apertured spaced ears 11, which ears receive a pin 12, the outer end of which extends beyond the outer margin of the $1 0.

ed with suitable anti-friction hearings to al low free rotation of the same.

The marginal hinges B are so arranged that the axis of the rollers 8 carried by these hinges, when the door is in' closed position, lie in the same vertical plane. The rollers 13 of the top section or panellie farther inwardly from the door than do the rollers 8. The rollers 16 on the bottom panel lie in a different vertical plane from either the rollers 8 or 13 and as illustrated in the drawings extendlaterally from the side edges of the door A whereas the other rollers extend rearwardly as well laterally.

There are twotrackways employed with the construction of this invention, one at each side of the doorway. The trackways are identical in construction, except of course, arranged in right and left hand manner. I

Each track section is made from flat sheet metal formed to provide a web 17, a hood or wheel guard 18, a trackway 19 and a stop ridge 20 adjacent the trackway for preventing lateral displacement of the rollers or wheels engaging the track. A similar stop or flange 21 is arranged adjacent the hood 18 and extends toward the flange 20. The

other a suflicient distance to prevent lateraldisplacement of the rollers 8 and 13 so as to prevent dislodginent of the door with respect to'its tracks.

The tracks are held in position adjacent the door opening 1 by means of angles 23, one leg of which is secured to the building structure and the other leg of which is riveted, welded or otherwise secured to the web 17 of the track. Adjacent the ceiling or upper portion of the doorway a gusset plate 24 may be riveted, welded or otherwise secured to the curved portion of the track and fastened to the ceiling by the bars 25 suitably secured t the gusset ate 24.

It will be o served that each of the tracks include a vertical section, an upwardly curved'section and a substantially horizontal section extending rearwardly from the door'openi'ng and above the same. The construction of the track is the same from end to end except for a detail to be later explained.

The rollers 8 and 13 are disposed to roll within the trackway just described engaging the track portion 19 thereof under some conditions and the hood section 18 under other conditions.

The rollers 13 are so arranged that when the door is in fully closed position the rollers will be slightly behind the rollers 8 and will engage the curved portion of the track for the purpose of moving the top section into fully closed position when the door is moved downwardly into closed position and for the purpose of quickly withdrawing the top sec tion when the door is moved into open position. The degree of curvature of the track and the arrangement of the roller 13 and its supporting bracket 10 accomplishes this purpose.

The rollers 16 at the lower end of the door attached to the lower section of the same are arranged to roll against the outside of the hood portion 18 of the track and a plate 26 against the inner surface of the wall adjacent the doorway and underlying the flange 23. It will thus be observed that as the door is raised to open position the rollers 16 being at the lower margin of the bottom panel of the door and riding on the outside of the track will cause the lower margin of the bottom panel of the door to rise clear of the door opening or sufliciently high as to be out of the way of any vehicle passing underneath the door when in opened position.

The mechanism for raising and lowering the door consists in the present instance of a chain 27 at each side edge of the door which is attached at its lower end to the bracket 14 supporting the lower roller 16. The chain passes upwardly along the side edge of the door and over a pulley 28 supported in a bracket 29 secured to the gusset plate 24, thence rearwardly over a floating pulley 30 which is carried in a clevis 31, thence forwardly over a pulley 32 carried on a stub shaft 33 secured to the gusset plate 24 and with its other end fastened to an arm 34 attached to a rockshaft 35 extending across the door opening above the curved portion of the track and supported-in any suitable manner in the gusset plate 24 at each side of the door opening.

The clevis 31 is carried on a rod 36 which engages a coil spring 37, one end 38 of which surrounds the rod and is fastened thereto, while the otherend is secured to a hook 39 supported in a ceiling bracket or similar structure 40 of the building. The spring 37 is a counterbalance spring which, co-operating with the chain 27 in any position of the door,

counter balances the same so that but slight and thus stop a roller engaging the same,

thereby preventing dropping of the door should any of the door operating mechanism break or'become inactive.

There are two such arms 41, one in each trackway, operated by the rocker shaft 35.

The parts are so arranged that when in normal operating position the arms 41 are held upwardly out of the path of the rollers in the trackways so as to allow free movement of the rollers in the trackways as door is operated.

The arm 34 engages against a stop such as some part of the track as for instance the hood 43 to serve as a fixed end for the chain the The track is illustrated as being cut away at 42 and provided with a hood 43'to allow movement of the arm 41 in the nianner described.

The door A is locked in closed position by means of rods 44 and 45 in axial alinement and supported across the door on one of the panels of the same. A suitable lever not shown is used for moving the rods 44 and 45 outwardly to engage the sides of the door opening for locking the door closed. The same means is used to retract the bolts to free the door opening so as to 'allowumovement of the door; The outer ends of the rods 44 and 45 are carried in brackets 46 and 47 respectively and springs 48 and 49 are arranged between the brackets and suitable fastening means on the rods to normally hold 5 the same in extended position when moved to such position by theactuating means. The actuating means may be locked in any suitable manner to prevent unauthorized opening of the door. 1

The operation of the door is as follows:

Figure 1 with the rods 44 and 45 extended in locking position. The bars 44 and 45 are retracted to free locking engagement of the same with the doorway whereupon the door may be raised by means of a handle attached to the outside of the same whereupon a gentle upward movement will cause the spring 37 to'move the clevis 31 and the supported pulley 30 towards the rear of the structure or away from the door opening to raise the door. The first movement of the door in opening position is that of the upper panel The door is shown in closed position in lower rollers 16 on the bottom of the lower section ride on tln' outside of the hood portion 18 of the trackways, thus raising the lower edgeof the door free of the door opening. The parts are so arranged that when in fully opened position the door may be free of the opening and entirely within the garage or otherstructure in which the same is installed.

When the door is moved to closed position the arrangement of the brackets 10 and'the rollers 13 on the upper panel will movethe same into a tightly closed position by reason of the engagement of the rollers with the curved sections of the tracks.

Should any of the operating mechanism, such, for instance, as the chain 27 or the spring 37 break or become ineffective while the door is in any position except closed position, the arms will thereupon fall and .block the passage of any roller thereby coming in contact with the same, thus preventing injury to anyone or anything in the door opening at the time of breakage of the 'apparatus..

Strips 5O are fastened to the outsides of the door to overlie the joints between the hinged sections to prevent the admission of wind, rain and the like, and also to prevent the insertion of any tool by a marauder at- .tempting unauthorized entrance.

Thechannel-like trackways, it will be observed, receives inwardly the same all of the rollers except the bottom rollers 16, which i as.

rollers engage the outside of the; web portion 18 of the trackways. Thus is provided a trackway having rollers engaging different ortions of the same for guiding the door in 1ts opening and closing movements.

The invention has been described herein vmore or less precisely as to details, yet it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited thereby as changes may be made in the arrangement and proportion of parts and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventio v The invention is claimed as follows:

1. An overhead roller door. construction including an articulated door, rollers adjacent the .hinged portions of said door, rollers near the upper margin of said door, other rollers adjacent the lower'margin of said door, a

trackway having a channel track therein and a flat trackway therealon'g, the upper rollers and the rollers at the hinges engaging the rollers engaging within said channel track-r ways, rollers adjacent the lower margin of the door engaging an outer surface of said trackways for guiding diiierent portions of the door in various manners.

3. An overhead door construction including a door comprising a plurality of horizontally hinged panels, rollers supported by the hinges of said door, rollers near the .upper margin of the top panel of said door,

other rollers near the lower margin of the bottom panel of said door, track sections for said rollers, the'hinge rollers and the upper rollers engaging one portion ofsaid track section and the lower rollers engaging another portion of said track section.

4. An overhead door construction incl11ding a door, said door comprising a plurality of 11orizontally hinged sections, rollers supported by the hinges ofsaid door, rollers near the upper margin of the top panel of said door, rollers near the lower margin of the bottom panel or section of said door, track being secured adjacent the jambs of the doorway and having vertical and horizontally extending sections connected by intermediate curved sections, said track sections having an inner trackway and an outer trackway, the upper rollers and the hinge rollers engaging the inner trackway of said track sections and sections for said rollers, said track sections the lower rollers engaging the outer trackway, of said track sections.

5. An overhead door construction including a door, said door comprising a plurality of horizontally hinged panels, rollers at the hinges of said panels, trackways for receiving said rollers, means for raising and lowering said door, and means connected with said raising and lowering means, arranged adjacent the trackways normally retained out of said trackways by said raising and lowering means and arranged-to stop passage along said trackway when said raismg and lowering means breaks.

6. An overhead door construction including a door, rollers for guiding said door in itsopening and closing movements, trackways for said rollers,'stops adjacent and movable into said 'trackways for -.engagement by a roller for preventing passage therealong by said rollers under abnormal conditions, means for raising said 'door, and means connected to said door raisingimeans for norint mally withholding said stops away fromsaid trackways.

'7. An overhead door construction includingahinged door, rollers at the hinges of said vsaid raising and lowering means effective tonormally retain said arms out of track stop ping position.

8. An overhead door construction including a door, rollers on said door, trackways for receiving said door and guiding the same into and out of closed position, a rock shaft above said tracks, arms on said shaft disposed to stop passage along said tracks when moved inone direction, raising and lowering means for said door, and connections between said shaft and said raising and lowering means for normally maintaining said arms out of stopping position with respect to said tracks.

9. An overhead door construction including horizontally hinged sections, rollers supported adjacent the hinges of said sections, rollers near the. upper margin of the upper section of said door, rollers near the lower margin of the bottom section of said door, track sections for said rollers, said track sections including track members having two trackways, said roller arranged so that the hinge rollers and the top rollers engage one trackway and the bottom rollers engage an= other trackway of said track members.

' 10. An overhead door construction includ ing a vertically movable, door, said door consisting of a plurality of horizontally hinged panels, rollers at the hinges of said panels,

construction, and stops associated with said door opening and closing means for arresting I passage of the rollers along said trackways County, Illinois.- 7

J. HEINEN.

' a door, said door comprising a plurality of trackways for receiving said rollers for directing said door in its substantially vertical V and substantially horizontal positions, flexible connectors attached to the lower panel of said door and passing upwardly therealong and rearwardly thereof, the other ends of said connectors extending towards the door opening, stops in said trackways, and

means co-operatively associated with the last mentioned ends of said flexible members and said stops for maintaining said stops normally out of stopping position and allowing said stops to arrest passage of the rollers along said trackways in case of accident to said flexible members.

' trolling the opening and closing movements of said door including a spring construction,

flexible members connected to the bottom of said door and associated with said spring 

